Thursday, May 21, 2009

Last night I tried out CHDK for the first time. This is a third-party software suite for the Canon PowerShot line of cameras. It allows all sorts of interesting things that the PowerShots don't allow by default. For example, the picture to the right was taken in a nearly pitch-dark room with an 80-second exposure. The PowerShot can only do 15 seconds out of the box.

But there's far more. CHDK includes tools for multiple histogram modes, "zebra" flashing of blown-out regions, and even a scripting language in which you can write your own code to control the camera! For anyone who wants to be able to carry around a small camera that's capable of taking complex shots, this is the tool that will let you do it.